


Waves

by simranwrites



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canonical Character Death, Culture, M/M, Minor Character Death, desi jet, slight jetru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:02:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28027479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simranwrites/pseuds/simranwrites
Summary: A wave can go up and down, and like that a person’s feelings towards their culture can go the same way...
Relationships: Haru/Jet (Avatar)
Kudos: 2





	Waves

Jet moved to the US at a really young age with his parents. This already caused a divide as he should know more about his homeland, he should but he doesn't, and that causes Jet to kinda pull away. At this point we're at the low point on the wave. 

As he grew up, he participated in his holidays, and there we see slight bumps in the wave, with each holiday an upper peak. However you also see him start to go to American school. You see him see others, speak english. Only english. Nothing at all like the language his parents spoke at home. And the wave reaches another low. 

He grows up. His parents make friends with other desi families, and you like their children, you play with them a lot and they're his friends. He's happy that he has someone like him. The wave reaches another peak. 

Then Jet's family moves, so his father can get a better job and provide more for the family. Jet's mom goes back to college as she wants to help the family, and Jet goes to a (white)friend's house after school everyday. Jet doesn't have the reassurance of his former friends, and these people are kinda new. Jet finds himself alone, and he finds himself changing to fit in with the others. Another low point on the wave.

After a year, Jet and his family move back to where he remembers, but this time he's not with his friends from before, he doesn't know what happens to them. He goes to school and changes. Another low point. Then his parents die, and with them, his only connection to his culture. The lowest point. 

Jet has lost everyone he cares about, and he has no one, especially from his culture to support him, and so he changes more and more, finding his culture to connect too much with his parents. Another low point.  
He grows up, with more and more low points on the wave. He stops making many relationships with people like him. He stops celebrating. Just stays alone. Low points continue.

But then, jet meets smellerbee, she seems confident about her culture, and that's what makes Jet hesitant to reach out. He has spent so long without anyone that's like him, he doesn't know how this will be. He has internalized other people's views about him, which have all led to more low points.

But in the end, he doesn't have to. Smellerbee reaches out first, walking up to him and saying something about him coming with her to a function. Jet runs away. Another low point.

Smellerbee stays away, but still watches him, and Jet continues to see how she stays confident, so sure of herself , her place in her family and in the world, and they start to become friends when Smellerbee apologizes for being so forward. And then Jet has a friend like him. Sorta high point.  
They make new friends, with Longshot, the duke, pipsqueak, sneers, everyone, and Jet feels loved in a way he didn't after his parents died.

Smellerbee slowly introduces his culture back to him, after sensing that Jet, instead of outright hating his culture, just misses it. It starts out small, desi snacks. Then it turns into music, movies. They don't take it further than that. Until one day, Smellerbee talks in a different language, and Jet instantly gets broken memories of his parents talking to him in a different language. Jet starts to fall, unsure and scared that he's gonna lose what little he has. Sorta low point.

Jet starts to try and learn his language, he gets all the books, he gets all the dics, and for a point he is happy, it's a high peak, he's closer to his parents, he's closer to his culture. He's closer to home.

But then it gets hard. Suddenly the words start swimming in his head, and he can't seem to remember after reading it so many times. He feels himself forgetting everything. He says that its because he was lazy, that he obviously didn't care enough it if he's forgetting that fast. He thinks that his people hate him. He tries to learn again, but the spark is gone, another low point.

The next time Smellerbee invites him to a function, he goes with her, goes to see more of his people, maybe find more people that knew his parents. The function was horrible. It was too overwhelming, and seeing the aunties look at his too small pants, and his slightly dirty kurta, before realizing who he was was too much. It gets worse when he can understand only bits and pieces of the aunties' conversation, only knowing enough that they are talking about him. it's the second lowest point of his life.

He pushes his culture away again, only taking some of the surface things, like food, but not much else. He tries to change himself, tries to get away. 

When suddenly one day, he wants to do it again.

He wants to learn about his culture again. he wants to be part of it again.

And so smellerbee helps him jump back in and he gets so happy, it's a pretty high point.

And it stays, and he goes to more functions, and while he's not fluent in his language, he can get the gist of what people are saying, and he can say some stuff, and he, after smellerbee tells him a bunch, he realizes that the aunties aren't people you should be listening to. the wave is going up.

But of course, there are days when he just can't do it, and so he, he doesn't push it away, but he takes a step back and relaxes. Now he doesn't change himself for others, but he just can't do it, if that makes sense. And so the wave drops, but never as low as it did before.

Also, when Jet is happier, and when he sees a certain someone for the first time, and he mutters something in his language, he goes to Smellerbee, and the first thing they cheer about is the use of Jet's language, especially since they know Jet's struggles with it. It's a pretty high peak.

And when Jet and Haru have their desi wedding, that, that is Jet's highest peak.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope it made sense aksjhgakshgkja <3
> 
> Come talk to me on tumblr @ sen-raq


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